Pubdate: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 Source: Maclean's Magazine (Canada) Copyright: 2001 Maclean Hunter Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.macleans.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/253 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1671.a08.html Author: Alan Randell, 35 PUB LTEs in 2001 alone! See http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Alan+Randell DOES OTTAWA MATTER? Reading the opening paragraph of "Does Ottawa matter?" I can't escape the feeling that the last time you picked up a newspaper was 1993. Can all that crap about a "heroin-ravaged neighbourhood," how "drugs create crime" and that "addicts are sick." Drugs kill only because drugs are illegal. The 1973 Le Dain Commission concluded "There appears to be little permanent physiological damage from chronic use of pure opiate narcotics." Drugs also cause crime only because drugs are illegal. Heroin addicts are no sicker than coffee addicts. Drug prohibition is an egregious abuse of our God-given right to ingest any damn drug we've a mind to, however harmful. It is, above all else, a human rights issue. Alan Randell, Victoria - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck